1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a method for processing objects of a standardized communication protocol for image and data exchange between devices via a communication network by means of processing devices. This image and data exchange can ensue as communication between medical devices with the communication protocol “Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine” (DICOM).
2. Description of the Prior Art
The book “Bildgebende Systeme für die medizinische Diagnostik”, edited by H. Morneburg, 3rd edition, 1995, pages 684ff, discloses medical system architectures, referred to as picture archival and communication systems (PACS), image viewing and image processing stations. These image processing stations, referred to as work stations, are connected to one another via an image communication network and to the remaining medical devices therein for calling patient data and images generated by imaging modalities.
This communication between medical systems and devices of different manufacturers via such an image communication network has become extremely important. The driving forces are cost reduction, quality enhancement and the ability to track and document medical information. In recent years, the medical communication standard DICOM 3.0 described in the aforementioned book on page 686 has become mature and widespread for manufacturers of medical devices and systems in order to send and receive digital images such as, for example, magnetic resonance, x-ray and ultrasound images.
New types of DICOM objects are continuously being added to the standard, and the standard itself is periodically reworked.
For example, every medical system and device that sends and receives DICOM messages has the following features:    1. The messages contain a block or a plurality of blocks of information.    2. Each block contains one or more information object descriptors (IOD).    3. Each IOD contains one or more information entities (IE).    4. Each IE contains one or more modules.    5. Each module contains one or more elements.    6. Elements can be simple elements or elements grouped in a container (sequence (SQ)).    7. SQs can contain simple elements or interleaved SQs of an arbitrary depth.
Simple elements are the smallest building blocks in DICOM. They are identifiable on the basis of a unique or (unambiguous) identification feature, what is referred to as an attribute tag.
Further, DICOM determines limitations of the messages: IODs have a one-time type identifier and a one-time event identifier. Newly developed IOD types are added to the standard. The IODs specify which modules must or can be contained in them. There is a global, expandable and overlapping set of modules from which the developers of the standard can select. A module specifies for each of its elements whether it can be empty or can have a zero value or can be omitted altogether. Dependencies between the elements within the modules exist. Mutual exclusions or inclusions are not unusual. Elements are also limited by virtue of a type defined in a type lexicon. Common types are coded strings or integer values. The standard also defines the multiplicity of the element values.